


Residency: Second Chances

by commander_rahrah



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels), Open Heart - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:07:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commander_rahrah/pseuds/commander_rahrah
Summary: A re-telling of Open Heart Book Two, with more depth, different points of views, angst, drama, and jealousy.NOTE: This series involves a romance between Ethan x MC, and Bryce x MC. Both pairings are present in this fic and ebb and flow throughout the entire series.
Relationships: Bryce Lahela/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

PART ONE:

Chapter Rating : T 

Word Count : 4100+

Description : What happens between the end of Book One, and the start of Book Two. Picking up from the ending of Open Heart Book 1 and the last chapter of Residency.

Disclaimer : Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from  Pixelberry’s Choices . They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

Author’s Note:  Annnnnnd we are back with Residency Part Two! Second Chances! I really wanted to explore what lead to Ethan leaving for South America… For Two Months… Your girl hates a time jump and she hates even more when there are missed opportunities for angst and drama!!

* * *

Light trickled in through the office window — casting everything in a yellow light. The leather books lining the walls — some of the spines worn from years of referencing them. Framed diplomas and awards on the walls — not put up by him, but by the adamant advice of the board. They wanted to show off their decorated diagnostician.

Ethan Ramsey was leaning back in his desk chair, surveying the space around him carefully. Re-familiarizing himself with the space after his time away.

But now he was back.

His decision to come back was his own. But he was blindsided by everything else — Harper stepping down and Naveen replacing her was a shock. He was conflicted thinking of Naveen as administration now — hopeful that perhaps he had someone on his side now, but strained in wondering if it was really what the old man wanted.

And then there was Jordynne.

No — _Doctor Holland_ , he corrected himself.

As he thought of her, images immediately began to play in his head like a slideshow. The previous night and how they had gotten lost in each other. The intimacy and passion and pleasure they shared in her tiny bedroom.

How intriguing it had been to see her personality and life displayed to him throughout her bedroom. The framed photos of her family on the walls, her perfectly organized, colour coded bookshelf but her chaotic closet spilling at the seams. Ethan never thought he could be that excited at seeing someone else’s stacks of books on a nightstand — but with her he was.

And then their conversation. It wasn’t really a conversation — more of a quiet understanding. They both knew what it meant with him coming back to the hospital. But as he had opened his mouth to speak about it, Jordynne had silenced him with a kiss.

_“Just be here with me — right now. Okay?” She had whispered through the kisses._

So that’s what he did.

But now — back in his pressed pants and lab coat, sitting in his office — his head was swimming. Going back to the way things were — he wasn’t sure how to do that. It was a lot harder now. A lot more complicated.

Ethan Ramsey had always been a man of conviction. Rules and regulations. Usually they were his own rules, that were made with the official ones in mind that he would bend and twist as needed. So he had made a line for him and Jordynne — that wasn’t to be crossed. But they did — time and time again.

Now that she was going to be on the Diagnostics team, that line seemed more complicated than ever. He was her boss now — her direct report, not just her attending. But that also meant that they would be spending more time together than ever.

Why did Naveen put them in this situation?

Standing up abruptly, the chair behind him moved backwards from being knocked by the backs of his knees.

Marching down the hallway, Ethan headed towards the elevator. He had a few glances at him in it — other staff whispering about him being back. But he had kept his arms crossed over his torso, keeping his guard up as to not initiate any conversations.

His leather dress shoes clicked down the hall as he made his way to the Chief of Medicine’s office. The door was already open.

“Ahh, Ethan. It took you longer than I anticipated to come see me up here.” Naveen spoke as he stepped away from hanging up a frame on the wall. He stepped back, putting his hands on his hips and looked at Ethan with a smile.

“I needed to process.” He stepped into the room, his hand hovering on the doorknob.

Naveen noticed, “Close the door.” The pair shuffled towards his desk, and sat on opposite sides of it.

Ethan glanced over to see the frame he had been hanging — it was the pair of them, accepting an award. The same photo that was hanging on his living room wall.

“So, my friend, what is it your processing?”

“Why you’re in that chair.”

“Because,” He thought for a moment — his finger moving over his moustache, “Because we need to make sure that Edenbrook can continue to do good things. Harper’s heart wasn’t in it, anyone could see that. So, we needed to make sure that someone who knew how good this place is took this chair.”

“I— I just never thought you would be administration.”

Naveen let out a low belly laugh, “Me neither. But a few days ago, I had also accepted my fate that I was going to be a cadaver. You just never know.”

“Hmm,” Ethan grunted.

“That’s not what’s really bothering you.” His mentor had always knew how to read him — he should have known better.

He let out a sigh — hesitating before finally speaking, “I really wish you considered it more before you decided to put Dr. Holland on the diagnostics team.”

Naveen’s eyebrows rose, “You I think I didn’t think it through? Is there another resident you would rather have on your team?”

“No — I, of course not.” He shook his head, scoffing, “I don’t want to work with any of those imbeciles.”

“So Dr. Holland is the correct decision.”

“Yes. No. It’s—“

“Complicated?” Naveen offered with a smirk.

Ethan let out another heavy sigh, “Yes.”

“Ethan — I thought it would be less complicated for you by making the final decision. I selected her — not you. And I have my own reasons for doing so.” He leaned back in his chair, studying him, “She’s damn good.”

“She is.” He didn’t miss a beat.

“So you agree. Perfect.”

Ethan stumbled on his words, “I— she — we,”

A chuckle escaped Naveen, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so flustered before.” 

For a moment, he dropped the act. “I just thought that with me coming back — it would be different. You are healthy again, so there isn’t a secret case. She’s a resident now, not an intern. But now — she’s on my team, she’s my direct report. Distancing myself from her — how is that going to work now?”

His thick eyebrows furrowed with worry, “You want to distance yourself from her? Do you really think that will work?”

_No._

He answered in his head. When he saw her down the hallway that morning it had made his heart flutter. The smallest of things, even on the off chances of seeing her — the way she tightened her ponytail, when he got a whiff of her perfume, her quick jabs back when he got sarcastic, the way the corner of her eyes stretched when she laughed.

“Maybe.” He said out loud.

* * *

“Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease…”

A dark-haired man was sitting stunned on a chair in the sterile hallway — his hands folded carefully onto his lap as he processed.

Jordynne stood in front of him, a clipboard clutched to her chest as she looked between him and through the room’s window at the woman she had just diagnosed. She had been observing her and doing tests for the majority of the morning.

“Can — can it be cured?” He stuttered.

“No,” she said simply — a sad smile spreading across her face. “But it can managed and treated.”

He looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowing a little less. “I — I have no idea what to do. My dad dealt with all this stuff for her and now—,”

Jordynne slid into the chair next to him, her body angled towards him a little. “I know it’s a lot to take in. But we can discuss treatment options, pain management.”

A grateful smile spread across his face, “That — that would help. Thank you.”

“How about we get you a coffee, and I’ll get paged once your mother wakes up?” She offered.  
  


With a nod, the pair stood up and made their way to the cafeteria. Jordynne grabbed a coffee for the man, and a green tea for herself — she knew better by now then to drink the cafeteria’s attempt at caffeine.

They settled into a table near the window — and they took a moment to watch the pedestrians strolling by.

“So, what can we do? For my mom?” He broke the silence after taking a long sip of his coffee.

Jordynne wrapped her fingers around her own cup — warming up her fingers. “Honestly, one of the best things she can do is quit smoking. But we can start her with an inhaler — a combination of steroids and bronchodilators. If it progresses, she may need oxygen therapy… or surgery.”

Her patient’s son’s eyes went wide as he listened to the information, “Could it lead to cancer?”

“She has a higher risk of developing lung cancer.” She stated simply, her eyes studying him.

“That’s how we lost Dad…” He looked out of the window — suddenly looking lost.

“I’m sorry, Justin.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“Don’t be. You’ve nothing to be sorry for.” His mouth spread into a smile — it was a nice. “Besides, I would be completely clueless about all of this if it weren’t for you. You’re very intelligent.”

“Oh, thank you,” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the compliment. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Well, you are very good at it. I couldn’t imagine, doing something like this.” He pointed up, indicating to the many floors of patients above them.

“What do you do?”

“I work at a marketing firm.”

“That sounds exciting.”

“Ha,” He let out a dry laugh, “It’s different than this for sure. I sit in a cubicle and stare at a computer all day.”  
  


Jordynne crinkled her brows, “But you like it, right?”

He thought for a moment before nodding, “Yeah, yeah I do.”

“Then that’s what matters…” But her voice trailed off as she watched Ethan step up to the coffee station nearby. She could hear the mutter of Justin’s voice in front of her — but couldn’t make out any of the words.

_Should she say something to him? Would it be more weird if she didn’t say anything at all?_

“Dr. Ramsey, hi?” Her voice was uncertain as she watched him nervously pour creamer into his travel mug.

“Dr. Holland!” He jumped at the sound of her voice — his open mug spilling onto his dress shirt. “Ow!” He winced as the hot coffee split on him.

“ _Ohmygosh_ ,” She got up quickly and crossed over to him. Without thinking about it, she grabbed a handful of napkins and started plotting his blue dress shirt.

Ethan watched her for a moment before he stepped back with a cough, “It’s quite alright, Dr. Holland. I can take it from here.”

She stepped back embarrassed — realizing what she was doing. Looking over her shoulder she remembered where she was. “Dr. Ramsey, this is Justin Ramirez — Mrs. Ramirez’s son, my patient in 515.”

He finished wiping his hands on a napkin before crossing over and putting his hand out to shake. “Sorry to meet you in these circumstances,” They shook hands for a moment, “I can assure you that your mother is in great care with Dr. Holland.”

“Thanks, I’ve seen that.”

Her face went pink at the compliment as she stood awkwardly near the table — unsure if she should sit or stand. She wasn’t really sure how to act right now. “We’re just reviewing treatment plans.” She blurted out. 

“Right…,” He looked between the two of them, his blues eyes scrutinizing, “Well make sure you save the time to explain it to the patient too, Dr. Holland.” With a nod, he tightened the hold on his travel mug before turning on his heel and heading out the cafeteria door.

“Sorry about that — I,”

“No worries, I—“ But Justin trailed off, looking over her shoulder.

Jordynne jumped in her chair a little as she felt someone grab onto her shoulder. Straining her neck, she looked up the see Bryce — his mouth upturned in his usual wide smile. “Hey gorge—,” But he stopped himself as he realized she wasn’t alone. “I’m sorry, I thought you were alone, Dr. Holland.”

Moving his hand off of her shoulder, he stretched it across the table, “I’m Dr. Lahela.”

“Hi, Justin Ramirez.” He said, shaking yet another hand in the hospital cafeteria.

“Mrs. Ramirez’s son? In room 515? I’ll be going up there later this afternoon to discuss surgery options.”

“Right.”  
  


“Well, I will see you up there later then. Dr. Holland — we’re still ok for lunch?” His caramel eyes caught hers, the edges crinkling as he smiled down at her.

She gulped, “Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

D _id her voice sound squeaky? It sounded squeaky._

“You’re a popular doctor.” Justin said after Bryce had walked away.

“Or it’s just a small cafeteria.” She let out a sigh of relief as her pager went off, “Looks like your Mom woke up.”

“Yeah? Good, let’s go.”

Jordynne lingered at the table for a moment longer — letting him get a few paces ahead of her. Swallowing, she resolved herself a bit before following in behind him.

* * *

  
“Two months.”

Ethan was back in Naveen’s office — his feet planted in front of his desk. He was staring down at the old man, watching him read the application he had sat down in front of him.

“ _Two months?_ ” Naveen repeated, finally looking up at Ethan. His eyebrows were furrowed, deep lines forming in his forehead.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, “In South America.” He said it as neutral as possible.

Naveen reread over the page, flipping it back and forth. His mouth turned into a frown, “When you said distance yourself I didn’t think you meant flying to a different continent.”

Neither had Ethan. But it had fallen onto his lap. An unopened email he had long forgotten about in the chaos of the last few days.

He had forgotten he had even threw his name into the ring — reaching out to the World Health Organization to volunteer. For literally anything. Anywhere.

It had been a way to get away from Edenbrook and Boston. A way to forget about his failure. _Failures_. Multiple.

But now — it could just be for a break. A reset.

To distance himself.

“Sign it.”

“No.” The Chief of Medicine barked, putting the papers back down and pushing them towards Ethan.

“Naveen—“

He straightened up — setting his jawline as he stared at him. “Not until you tell me why.”

“I can’t,” Ethan let out with a sigh. “I— I need more time. I’m not ready.”

“Ready for what?” Naveen raised a brow, “You’ve been running the diagnostics team since I left.”

“To act like I don’t…,” He trailed off, “To act like I don’t care for her. The way I do. The way a boss shouldn’t. I’m not ready.”

“Fine.” The old man signed the form, placing it carefully on the edge of his table for Ethan to take, “When this doesn’t work — don’t come crying to me. I warned you.”

* * *

The next day came by in a blur. Jordynne had missed all this — her suspension had proved how much she loved being a doctor.

She hadn’t missed giving people life changing diagnoses — but that was apart of the job description. She was leaning against Danny’s nurse station, watching Justin saying goodbye to his mother through the window to her room.

He had come in to check on her before going to work. They had decided to hold her for another day of observation, but he couldn’t take anymore time off.

Watching the son and mother hug made her heart ache. Her homesickness had never been worse.

Blinking back to reality, she watched as Justin approached her — a sad smile on his face.

She pushed herself off of the nurse’s station and headed towards him, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just wish I could stay longer.”

“Well, I assure you that your mother is in the best care. Danny is the charge nurse for this shift, and honestly he could probably run this whole building.” She assured him.

“Oh yeah that reminds me,” He dug into his back pocket and pulled out a folded paper, “Here, I wanted to give you my number…”

Her green eyes widened in shock, “Oh! I’m flattered but—“

But he quickly stopped her, “For my mom’s file. In case something happens.”

“Right. I’m an idiot.” Jordynne felt her entire face turn hot with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, I don’t—“

“No! You’re really not.” It was his turn to reassure her now, “I thought about it actually,” His lowered his voice a little, “I was gonna ask you out.”

“Oh?” She blinked in surprise.

“I mean — you’re incredibly smart and hot and like, just the right amount of intimidating.” He laughed nervously, “But I got the sense that you were already seeing someone. When that doctor came over and introduced himself yesterday in the cafeteria?”

_Which one?_

Jordynne thought to herself. _God, she seriously was the worst person._

“It’s probably not a good idea to date my mom’s doctor anyways.”

She nodded with pursed lips — taking the sticky note he had offered and placing carefully onto her clipboard. She hugged it to her chest, “If there are any updates throughout the day, we’ll give you a call.”

She forced a smile on her face — trying to hide the winding gears going off in her mind.

* * *

At the end of her shift, Jordynne was wrapping up the rest of her paperwork. Her and her friends were hovering around the nurse’s station — itching to get out on time for once so they could head down to Donahue’s and get a good spot for once.

Just as she slid the last of her patient’s charts over to the charge nurse, the intercom buzzed.

_“Dr. Holland to Chief of Medicine’s office. Dr. Holland to Chief of Medicine’s office.”_

“What’s that about?” Sienna quickly asked — her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Yeah — I thought everything was good?” Elijah piped in.

“It is.” She raised her hands up, trying to calm them down, “Seriously.”

“It’s only day two of her being back. What’s the Chief of Medicine’s going to want anyways?” Jackie piped in, shrugging her shoulders as she finished up her own paperwork.

“Yeah, plus she did save the dude’s life.” Bryce offered, leaning casually onto the station. He was right next to Jordynne — she swore she could feel the heat radiating off of him.

“Right…,” Sienna and Elijah said in sync.

“Seriously, I’ll be okay. I’ll meet you guys at Donahue’s.” She started to turn on her heel, but fingers grabbing onto her elbow stopped her.

It was Bryce. “I’ll save you a seat.” He said simply, before flashing her a brilliant smile and letting go of her arm.

“Thanks,” She breathed in, feeling a little winded all of the sudden. Turning on her heel, she blinked back to reality and started heading towards the elevator.

She knocked gently on Naveen’s office door — before a soft voice told her to come in. Stepping inside, her eyes were immediately drawn to the old man sitting behind the desk — a warm smile was spread across his face.

“Hi, Dr. Banerji,” Jordynne said as she closed the door softly behind her.

“Now,” He got up to greet her, moving around from behind the desk, “How many times do I have to tell you — it’s Naveen, my girl.”

“You’re the Chief of Medicine. I can’t call you that.”

“And you’re the young doctor who saved my life.” He motioned for her to take a seat, before doing the same, “And besides, we are friends and we respect each other. So it’s Naveen.”

“Okay. Naveen.” Her mouth has turned upward — a warm sensation of pride filling her chest.

“So, how does it feel to be back?”

“I’m… ecstatic. And grateful.” She paused for a moment, before continuing, “Everything that I went through — the trial, and suspension — it just really showed me how this is what I’m meant to do.”

“I couldn’t agree more. And how do you feel about the fellowship?”

“Excited.” She said quickly — but chewing the inside of her lip gave her away, “But nervous at the same time. It will be —“

“Different?” He offered.

“Mhmm.” She hummed.

“Well, it will start in about two months time. Once the new wing is completed, the diagnostics team will have a brand new office and your fellowship will commence.” Naveen hesitated before licking his lips, “It will also coincide with Ethan’s return.”

Jordynne furrowed her brows in confusion, “What do you mean? He’s already back.” 

“Ah — so I see he has left that part for me.” He avoided her stare for a moment.

“I don’t— what are you talking about?”

“Ethan has accepted a team lead position for a project with World Health Organization. They are going to be stationed in the Amazon.”

Her mouth fell open, “The Amazon? Rainforest? In South America?”

“For two months.”

“Two… Two months?” She couldn’t help but repeat everything back she was hearing. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I’m sorry he didn’t tell you himself.”

She could tell by Naveen’s tone that he did not approve of Ethan’s decisions.

“I— I don’t understand. He just got back.”

“What I’m thinking is, his world just got turned upside down. He doesn’t do change very well. Perhaps this will let him straighten things out.” He said it like it was a practiced line.

“By living in the rainforest for 2 months? How will that get him back to normal?” She asked, completely exasperated.

“No idea!” He let out a dry laugh, “You should tell him that.”

“When does he leave?”

“Tomorrow morning. He actually just wrapped up for the day — so he can prepare.”

Her shoulders sank — he left. Without telling her any of this. Without a goodbye. Was she supposed to just walk past his office and figure it out? Get an out of office email notification back?

“You can still catch him. Go to the parkade.” He winked a brown eye at her, waving his hands to shoo her out of the door.

Jumping out of her seat, she started speed walking down the hallway — weaving past the few administration staff lingering in them. Some of them flashed her some odd looks, but a doctor speeding through a hallway wasn’t the weirdest thing to see in a hospital.

When she got to the parkade door, she took a big breathe, tucked some of the hair falling out of her ponytail behind her ear and pushed through the door.

Her green eyes searched for his familiar black car, walking as she looked. She stopped in tracks as she noticed him — his hand lingering in his open door as he went to go sit in his car.

So he really was going to just leave without saying anything.

“Were you even gonna say goodbye?” She asked — her voice echoing a little in the concrete parkade.

His head whipped around to her voice, his eyes wide as he stared at her. Closing the door to his Mercedes, he took a few long strides until he was a few feet away from her.

“I — Who told you?” He avoided meeting her stare.

“Naveen.”

He let out a sigh, “Of course.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” She said, her jaw set into a hard line.

“I — I wasn’t _not_ going to say goodbye.” He put his hands in his jacket pocket — clearly nervous. “Things just happened so fast.”

“Right.” She didn’t look like she believed him, “So South America?”

“Mostly Peru and Brazil.”

“Malaria?”

He nodded in reply.

Confusion spread across her face, causing a line to form in between her brows, “Why are you doing this?”

“What?”

“Why are you really going, Ethan?”

“People are suffering and I can help them.” He stated simply.

“The same thing is happening here in Boston.” She countered, crossing her arms of her chest.

“Well, I made a commitment to the organization. So I’m going.”

She let out an involuntary sigh, “I thought we were going to try and be normal about all of this, Ethan.

“This is normal. I’m a highly qualified diagnostician and doctor who is traveling to a region in desperate need of quality medical assistance and advancement.”

She shook her head at him, “That’s not what I meant.”

“Well that’s the reason.” His tone was flat, and final.

“ _Fine_.” She bit down on her bottom lip, “Safe travels.”

He nodded in thanks. The pair standing in an awkward silence for a moment — finally meeting one another’s eye. She searched his blue eyes — looking for even just the smallest glint of _something_. But she couldn’t find it — his well-practiced mask was already on and it seemed it wasn’t going to be coming off.

Jordynne let out a sigh that echoed through the parkade, before turning on her heel and marching away. The heavy metal door let out a large bang as it closed behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Rating: T 
> 
> Description: Bryce and Jordynne have time together to explore what everything happening between them means, since Ethan is away in the Amazon finding his own answers.
> 
> Disclaimer: Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.
> 
> Author’s Note: Well this took much longer than expected! With everything happening in the world, I found it harder and harder to take that personal time for myself to get away and write. But I eventually carved out time for it, and it felt nice to get back into the perspectives of Jordynne, Bryce and Ethan. This fic has a lot of little moments and memories from Book 1 (and fic 1) that can turn into big moments for these characters in the future <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

Chapter 2

The golden liquor coated her pink lips, turning them shiny. They pursed together, licking the excess off as she lowered the shot glass to the table with a loud bang.

The sound snapped Bryce back to reality — and he swallowed hard as she watched Jordynne throw her head back and laugh.

She was in full force tonight. Her big laugh echoing in the bar. Her perfect, wide smile drawing everyone in. Her wild, blonde hair being thrown over her shoulder.

Sometimes he wondered if she was really from this world.

“Let’s get more!” Her voice was much higher than usual — a good note that she was getting more and more intoxicated.

“C’mon Jordy, let’s pace ourselves.” He suggested, grabbing onto her wrist gently.

“Pace ourselves?! Do I look like a beginner to you? Come on!” She put out her bottom lip at him, looking up at him with giant puppy dog eyes.

It was like a punch to the gut — she could get whatever she wanted with that look. _Dammit_.

Before he could reply, Jackie came to the table with a tray of more shots and Jordynne greedily grabbed two of them.

“Whoa, Holland’s on a roll tonight,” Jackie said as she slid into the booth, passing out the remaining glasses.

“She’s on something.. that’s for sure,” Sienna said to them, a hand in front of her mouth.

At the sound of the next song coming on, she jumped onto her leather seat in the booth. “This song! This song!!”

He couldn’t even hear it over the crowd. But he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at her excitement.

She crawled over Sienna and jumped out of the booth, landing with surprising dexterity for the amount of liquor she had consumed. “Come on dance with me.” She stretched her tan fingers over to him, “Please.”

“Okay,” He agreed — maybe a little too easily.

He grabbed onto her warm fingers, letting her pull him to the dance floor with surprising strength. 

He watched her jump up and down for a moment — her blonde hair flicking around wildly. He let out a laugh, before mimicking her movements — his tan arms raised above his head as they danced recklessly in the crowd.

She joined in with his laugh — flashing her white teeth at him in a brilliant smile. He gulped as she moved closer to him. He could still smell her, even in the old bar — orange blossoms, vanilla, and jasmine. He could get drunk off of that scent.

His heart fluttered as she grabbed onto him casually, pulling him into her to dance more closely. Bryce was suddenly overwhelmed being this close to her — he felt dizzy, and it wasn’t from the liquor.

Jordynne Holland was intoxicating. And addicting.

His dark eyes settled on her mouth, how much closer it was getting to his as she swayed in front of him.

“Jordy...” He breathed out, stepping away from her.

“What?” Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked up at him — her green eyes fluttering. She stepped forward and carefully wrapped her arms around his neck. “I just wanna have some fun. You’re fun. You like fun. Remember fun?” Her pink lips stretched into a smile.

He felt his stomach twist and tug and flutter all at once.

Bryce so badly wanted to give in — to crash his lips onto hers, to hold her back. But he didn’t know where all of this was coming from. Things were still so messy — and right now, she was messy. There had to be something that caused it.

“I know — I just —,” He hesitantly put his hands on her waist, steadying her movements, “Are you sure, you’re okay?”

“I’ve never been better Bryce Lahela. Now dance with me.” She replied, tightening her hold on him as she pushed her body up against his.

* * *

Ethan watched the light through his window dim as the plane flew into a series of clouds — the pages of his book in his lap suddenly becoming harder to read. 

Letting out a sigh, he put his head back on his headrest — leaning against it as he looked over his shoulder and out of the window.

He eyed the empty spot next to him — a placeholder for his leather bag this time. He tried hard to not go there — to think about the last time he was at the airport, on an airplane, who was with him. If he started down that road, it would make everything harder.

So he ignored the subtle reminder — repressing the memory and averting his eyes from the empty chair.

“Hi sir,” A brunette flight attendant pulled a cart up near his seat, “Due to the length of the flight you will be provided an in-flight meal. It will be arriving shortly. Would you like a beverage to go with it? Spirits? Wine?” He gestured to the cart.

Ethan swallowed as he eyed it — the little bottles of alcohol clinking together as the flight attendant shifted the cart.

It was tempting. It could be another way to repress memories in the long flight. To calm any gears that started winding.

He cleared his throat, putting on a polite smile, “Can I actually just have a coffee?”

“Of course, sir.” He poured the hot beverage and carefully passed it to him. “I’ll be back with your meal.”

Ethan took a sip and grimaced slightly. It was terrible. And he had to force another thought down as he thought of who else would grin and bear it with him.

But it was just a coffee. He’ll get over this.

He can get over this. He could do this.

* * *

The slightest crack of one of her eyes caused Jordynne to groan in pain. Her head was pounding — and even the little trickle of light coming through the blinds was killer.

Blinking over and over, she finally was able to open her green eyes fully. She was in her bedroom — how she got there? She wasn’t entirely sure.

The previous night was a blur. She remembered taking an uncertain amount of tequila shots and dancing. So much dancing — her feet were killing her.

Letting out another groan, she shifted onto her side but froze when she felt resistance next to her. Moving her head, her eyebrows raised as she saw Bryce laying next to her — sleeping soundly. He was still wearing his jeans and t-shirt — his arms folded around himself carefully as he slept on top of her white duvet.

Her eyebrows furrowed together — a deep line forming in her forehead. Now that she didn’t remember. Peaking under the duvet, she realized she was still wearing clothes — her boyfriend briefs and shirt were clinging to her body. Her mind started whirling as she attempted to connect the dots.

“Hey,” Bryce’s groggy voice whispered next to her, “You okay?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek — praying that it was too dark in the room for him to see how embarrassed she looked, “I’m— I’m pretty rough.”

“I would imagine so. You consumed enough tequila to get you, me, and Sienna drunk.”

“Ugh.” She groaned.

“And I’m sure spending two hours on your bathroom floor probably didn’t help.” 

“Nooo...” Her face felt hot as it flushed with embarrassment.

He let out a quiet chuckle, “Oh yeah. Held your hair back and everything.”

She wasn’t sure if she had ever hated herself more then that moment. “Ugh, I’m so sorry Bryce.”

“Don’t be — I didn’t mind.” She gulped as she felt his practiced hand rub her shoulder.

“I’m sure that’s not what you signed up for when we decided to go out last night.”

“I mean, I went to hang out with you. And we did hang out..” His voice trailed off for a moment, “I just didn’t imagine it would be on your bathroom floor with your head hanging off your toilet.”

“Haha,” She hesitated for a moment, “Did we — Did I say anything? Or... I dunno, try anything?”

“Oh yeah,” He let out a little chuckle again, “Drunk Jordy is chaaaatty. And handsy.”

“ _Oh_.”

“I didn’t — we didn’t do anything. You just tried to kiss me a couple of times.” He mumbled a little.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized again.

“People have done crazier things then try to kiss someone while drunk on Tequila.” He reassured.

“I know, I— But we never—“

He interrupted her, “S’okay Jordy.”

“Thanks for staying with me.” She whispered. And she meant it. As complicated as it was, she was glad Bryce was there. He was always there for her.

She felt the bed shift as he turned on his side to face her, “What kind of doctor would I be if I didn’t take care of you?”

“I live in a house full of doctors.” She could feel how close his face was to hers.

“Ha — right.” She could see his sheepish smile in the dim light. “I just needed to know you were okay.”

There was a beat of silence before he spoke again. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” She lied — a little too easily.

“I just — I haven’t seen you like that before. You were drinking hard. Did something happen?”

She shook her head against the pillow, “I just wanted to let loose. Celebrate surviving my first week back. I just went a little bit too hard.”

“That’s the only reason?”

“Yeah.” She did her best to hide the lie, suppressing the memory of Ethan walking away in the parkade, “So what to do I gotta do to convince you to drag my ass out for some breakfast?”

“No convincing necessary.”

* * *

He fell into a routine a lot easier than he thought he would. The repetition was nice — satisfying after the continuous curve balls life had thrown at him over the past year.

There was still chaos here — it was still a medical crisis. But it wasn’t anything that Ethan couldn’t handle.

He spent most of his days in their temporary clinic — diagnosing cases. In the evenings he would spend time with other team leaders, discussing measurements and tactics for preventing further cases. During their free time, he would usually see himself to his room — avoiding the socialization hours around the campfire. He rarely spoke to his colleagues in Boston, why would he do it in the Amazon.

One of the local doctors had told him his Portuguese was improving. A compliment that Ethan heartily took as he was teaching himself from the little pocketbook in his messenger bag and repetition with the locals.

Most nights by the time his head hit the pillow he was too exhausted to think. For the gears to start winding. For memories and thoughts to resurface from the far depths of his mind. And if they did — he forced them away. Closing his eyes with knitted brows, until sleep overcame him. And then he would wake up to do it all over again.

* * *

“Wow, it’s been a while since I was in here,” Jordynne smirked as she stepped into a familiar supply closet.

Bryce had texted her during her break — asking to meet her there. She didn’t have to ask which one he meant — she knew. The supply closet from the first day they met. From where she had dropped all of her usual guards and kissed a stranger.

The smirk fell off of her face when she saw Bryce’s expression. It was serious — his usual megawatt smile was nowhere in sight. “Wh—what’s going on?”

He took a steadying breath before he spoke, “Jordynne, when did you know?”

“Know what?” Her eyebrows furrowed.

“That Ethan was gone. That he was leaving again.”

Her mouth opened slightly, but nothing came out. She didn’t know what to say.

He let out a sigh — taking her silence as an answer. “Is that why you got like that? At Donahue’s? You literally drank enough to make yourself sick.”

“I— I was upset.” She explained, stepping a little closer to him, “I didn’t know what else to do — I just didn’t want to deal with it.”

“Have you dealt with it?” He asked back, his voice sharp, “You lied to me. I asked you what was really going on. And you lied.” His brown eyes stared deeply into her green eyes — studying her.

“I— I can’t talk to you about him, Bryce.” She wrapped her arms around her torso, folding in on herself. “I know you tell me I can but I— I just can’t.” Her eyes dropped down to her shoes.

“Why not?”

“Because it isn’t fair!” She raised her voice, her jaw clenched tightly, “Bryce, every time something bad happens with Ethan I run to you. When I didn’t want to admit to myself how I felt about him, I went to you. When he rejected me, when he quit, when he flew to a different continent literally just to get away from me. I keep boomeranging back to you Bryce. And it’s not fair.”

The small space of the supply closet turned quiet as they both thought.

Jordynne broke the silence as she finally looked back up at him, her voice croaking out, “So no I don’t want to talk to you about Ethan. Because it reminds me of what an atrocious person I am.”

“You’re not a bad person Jordynne.” Bryce shook his head at her, reaching a tan hand out and brushing a piece of her hair away.

She closed her eyes at his touch, doing her best to not lean into it, “I am Bryce. I have been to you.“

“I think... I think that you’re human. And things got complicated. And that I decided it was worth the complication — your feelings and relationship with Ramsey included.” He used a knuckle to raise her chin, putting her attention back on him, “But I need you to be honest with me. Is there something between us? Or did I just invent that?”

“No.. of course there is Bryce. But I... but there’s something between Ethan and I too. Or there was.” She grabbed onto his hand, holding onto it as she took a deep breath. “You’re one of my best friends Bryce. And you’re more than that. And that’s why I need to say this. I think we should stop the “more” between us. For now. Until I — until I can figure how to stop complicating everything. And I can’t do that if we ...”

“Okay.” He said, interrupting her with his honey voice. He was nodding at her — his dark eyes focusing on her as he placed his steady hands on her shoulders.

She let out the breath she was holding, staring up at him in disbelief, “Okay? Just like that. Why are you so agreeable?”

“Puppy dog remember?” He gave her a half-smile, his long hair falling into his eyes as he looked down for a moment. “I’d thought you would’ve figured out by now I’m not going anywhere, Jordy.”

* * *

Ethan hesitated for a moment — looking at the group of people sitting and chatting by the fire. He could join them — if he wanted.

Shaking his head, he plopped himself down on a stool on the edge of the campsite. Tucked away, and out of sight.

He pulled out the pocket-sized translation book from his chest pocket and started thumbing through it in the dim light from nearby lanterns.

“May I?” A voice asked from behind him.

Ethan stifled the sigh that almost escaped him. Straining his neck, he turned to see Dr. Adébáyọ̀ standing sheepishly, waiting for his response next to the empty stool beside him. He grunted in response, closing his book and slipping it back into his pocket.

The pair sat in silence for a moment, staring off at the distant campfire and taking sips of their drinks from their steel water bottles.

“Do you mind me asking why you came here, Dr. Ramsey?” The other doctor's voice broke the silence.

Ethan furrowed his brows, “Why?”

“I’m curious.” He shrugged, looking over to him.

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back.” The man retorted quickly. “Humor me.”

Ethan remained silent — keeping his eyes on the lid of his water bottle.

“Okay — I’ll go first. I came here to practice, of course. Help with research. But I came here for selfish reasons too.” Dr. Adébáyọ̀ settled into his seat as he spoke. “My family emigrated from Nigeria when I was 8. We lived in the UK, Canada, America. We traveled all over the world. But never South America. My father died last Spring. He always wanted to come here. So I signed up for him. It’s sentimental but — I’m glad I did.” He smiled up at the night sky that was glittering with white stars.

“I’m sorry about your father.” Ethan finally replied, looking over at his comrade.

“Me too,” He nodded, a sad smile on his face. “So are you going to tell me why _the_ Ethan Ramsey left his fancy office in Edenbrook for tents in the Amazon?”

 _The_ Ethan Ramsey.

He hated that.

He hid his white-knuckled fists at his sides. “I am a diagnostician. I came to diagnose and treat Malaria and other ailments.” He used his practiced voice.

“And that’s it? You are a doctor and nothing else. What are you running from?”

Ethan remained silent for a long moment. He had been avoiding thinking about it this entire time. Why he had flown all the way out here. Abandoned his regular life to sit in a tent all day in the Amazon.

Out of sight, out of mind.

But he could feel his stomach twisting — a gnawing.

“Not what.”

“Hmm?” The other man was so shocked at him speaking, he barely heard him.

“Not what. _Whom_ — whom I’m running from.” He let out a heavy sigh.

“I see. And this person... They are family?” Dr. Adébáyọ̀ asked with a raised brow.

He shook his head.

“Ah, I see. Matters of the heart.” He span around on his stool, so he was facing him more, “You are not together anymore?”

“We — we never got the chance to be together in the first place. Not really. She — we’re coworkers.” He admitted.

“That could be complicated.”

“And when I get back I’ll be her boss.”

“That’s more complicated.”

“ _Yes_.” His voice was barely a whisper as he admitted this all out loud.

“What are you going to do? Coming here is doing what?” He questioned — his eyebrows furrowed as he studied Ramsey in the dim light.

“Delaying the inevitable.” He took a swig from his water bottle, gulping it down, “I’ll have to face her eventually.”

“And when you do?”

He avoided the question, “I just keep thinking to myself what if things were different. If she worked at a different hospital, if we met at a conference instead...”

“Do you want to hear something that was told to me? The universe sends us exactly what we need, right when we need it.”

Ethan let out a sad laugh, remembering Teresa saying the same words to him. “A patient told me the same thing once.”

“And is she? What you need, right when you needed it?”

Ethan thought to the past year. He couldn’t have handled Delores without her. She helped him process and navigate the Naveen situation. Hell, she saved the man too.

She grounded him — brought him back down to Earth. Yet had never had more ups and downs in his life before meeting Jordynne Holland.

He couldn’t have planned for any of it. But he wouldn’t take it back either.

“She — she’s everything I need that I never knew I wanted.“

“It sounds like you have an answer.”

“I don’t — because I’m not what she needs.” Ethan hung his head back for a moment, pursing his lips as he looked up at the inky black sky.

_______________________________________________________________________

She had forgotten how easy it was with Bryce Lahela.

How contagious his smile was. How infectious his laughter was. How easy it was to fall for him.

She was starting to remember why it had been so easy to make out with him in that closet after only knowing him for a few hours. What those early days were like — sneaking away together, watching movies in bed, remembering each other’s burger orders. Before she had made a mess of things.

The entire group was laid out on a couple spread out blankets at the park across the street from the apartment. They had packed some snacks and music — and were all basking in the sun, enjoying each other’s company.

Jordynne was sitting with her knees to her chest — smiling down at the blanket as she listened to Bryce’s warm chuckle reverberate through her. He was sprawled next to her, teasing Sienna about Danny.

Jackie, Elijah, and Aurora were in the blanket next to them — arguing over who has the best taste in music as they passed the speaker around.

She knew what she and Bryce had decided. And they had honored that over the past month. They were still friends — after everything the pair had gone through in the last year, she felt like she could always rely on that fact. They still hung out altogether, and a few times alone too. But sometimes she would catch herself staring at him a little too long, or laughing at his joke a little harder than anyone else.

The tune of an ice cream truck nearby snapped her back to reality as her friends buzzed with childlike excitement. “Ooo! Let’s get some for dessert!” Sienna jumped up, a wide smile on her face.

“Good idea,” Bryce stretched his arms behind him to push himself up, the hem of his shirt pulling up just enough that beginnings of his tan abs were revealed. Jordynne bit her lip as she watched him get up, “What does everyone want?”

“Chocolate!” Elijah said eagerly, his eyebrows raising up on his forehead.

“Gotta go classic — vanilla please Lahela.” Jackie gave him an unusually warm smile as she looked up at him.

“Got it. Mint chocolate chip Jordy?” He asked, looking down at her expectantly. 

“Um, yeah. Thanks.” She blinked in surprise at him knowing before a small smile spread across her face. Bryce Lahela knew her way too well.

Once they had returned with their frozen treats, the group sat together in a circle. Eating fast as the treats started melting over their fingers on the sunny summer day. Bryce had sat next to her again — his bare knee touching hers as they sat crossed legged. It was comforting. And maybe a little distracting.

Jordynne dared a glance at him, to only find him already looking at her. Her breath caught a little as he let out a little chuckle.

“Oh, you gotta little’,” He pointed his finger at his mouth, indicating she had something on her own, “Here I’ll get it.

He reached forward, his hand moving up to her face — his thumb gently swiped at the corner of her mouth, wiping away the melted ice cream. Jordynne unconsciously parted her lips as his thumb traced the curve of them. Their eyes finding each other during the few seconds — holding each other’s gaze.

Sienna coughed awkwardly — breaking the moment.

“You get it?” Jordynne asked, blinking herself back to reality.

He smiled sheepishly at her, “Yeah, I did.” Her eyes fell to the ground before his did, her face flushing a deep pink.

Sienna grabbed onto Jordynne’s shoulder, turning her attention, “Hey Jordynne, I need to wash my hands. Come with me?”

“Oh,” She tried to hide the surprise on her face, “Sure.” She followed Sienna’s quick march to the public restrooms across the park.

“Uhhh, so I thought you guys were gonna cool it?” She asked with one eyebrow raised as they entered the restrooms.

“What? We are — nothings happened.” She shrugged in reply as she headed to the sink.

“ _Suuuuuure_ ,” The word dragged on with a tone of disbelief, “You looked like you were about two seconds away from sucking each other’s face.”

She shook her head, “We’re just friends right now Sienna.”

“Mhmmm.” Her friend sounded like she still didn’t believe her. 

“I mean it.”

She watched as Sienna turned on her heel and headed into one of the dark green stalls. “I’m just saying friends don’t look at each other like that.”

“You should talk. Aren’t you and Danny “just friends”?” She retorted. She grinned a little when she got no reply.

As she waited, Jordynne pulled out her phone from her back pocket. Her thumbs swiped over her keyboard quickly as she replied to the lengthy group chat between Kenzie, Carter and Jason. _God, she missed them_.

She started scrolling aimlessly through pictogram, liking photos of friends and scenery back home. Her homesickness was starting to become intolerable.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she scrolled passed a photo quickly — not quite believing what she saw. Scrolling back up, she felt a pang in her chest as she realized she saw it right.

It was Ethan.

The World Health Organization had posted it — whom she followed long before he volunteered with them and flown off to a different continent. He was in the corner of a white tent — his mouth pressed in a firm line as he listened to the slightly out of focus patient sat in front of him.

He looked more rugged — his stubble darker and longer than she had ever seen it. His skin had a golden tinge to it from spending time in the Brazilian sun. It was weird to see him out of his usual button-up shirt and jacket — he was wearing a soft henley instead, showing off the lines of his neck and shoulders.

She swallowed her feelings down as she realized the most important thing about the photo. He looked fine. His usual Ethan Ramsey self. He wasn’t torn up about leaving. He clearly didn’t look like he was having sleepless nights, worrying about what happened to them, what was going to happen to them.

Not that she was doing that anymore.

Well, not as often. She was trying.

Jordynne blinked away at the tears welling in her green eyes — staring up at the tacky fluorescent lighting in the public restroom.

“Hey — you okay?”

She felt Sienna’s warm fingers grab onto her worst gently. Her coffee coloured eyes were filled with worry.

Jordynne mustered on a smile, squeezing her eyes shut to get rid of any lingering tears. “Oh, yeah yeah. I’m fine.” She reassured — sliding her phone back into her back pocket quickly, “Just my allergies with all the pollen.”

Sienna looked up at Jordynne, her eyebrows still meeting in the middle a bit from concern, “Okay.. you good to head back to the others?”

“Of course. Everything’s good.” She lied through her teeth, forcing a smile onto her face a lot easier then she thought she could.

* * *

A couple of days off in the nearby port town did Ethan a lot more good than he had expected. Santarem was gorgeous — it had been a long time since he had been able to visit somewhere new as just that, a visitor. Not a doctor — he had no busy conferences or meetings or lectures to attend. And there were definitely no tents for taking RPDs for Malaria — thankfully he got to take a break from that.

He could barely remember the last time he had just gone somewhere to enjoy being there.

That’s why when he saw the sign for motorcycle rentals, he had marched straight towards the shop.

Now he was riding along the coastline — the wind wiping around him as the fine machine purred down the road. The green leather jacket he had purchased was still a little tight — it needed to be broken in. But he had liked the way he felt in. How he felt on the bike.

A little jolt of pain went through his face — and Ethan realized it was because he was smiling. So wide that it was hurting.

Pulling over on to the side of the road, he used the toe of his boot to put up the kickstand. Maneuvering around a few rocks he made his way to the shoreline.

He stood there for a moment — putting his hands into his jeans’ pockets and soaking in the Amazon river in all its glory.

Pulling out his phone he took a photo of the scenic view of the river. He hadn’t touched the device since he came to South America — airplane mode staying on constantly to stop any reminders of Boston to come creeping in. Then he twisted around and took a picture of his rented motorbike. The only photos of his trip so far — and they were moments he would want to remember.

Without the wind wiping around him, he felt hot in his leather jacket. Shrugging it off, he laid it out onto the sand and sat on it — his arms resting on his knees as he looked out at the water.

And then it hit him.

 _Miami_.

Sitting on that beach with Jordynne — sharing the tiny space of his tuxedo jacket. Closing his eyes he could still remember the feeling and weight of her resting head against his shoulder. Or the way her green eyes had stared into his — trying so desperately to read him, to see if he was feeling the same things as her on that quiet beach.

Snapping his eyes open again, he let out a loud sigh — his eyebrows furrowing in anger with himself. He had been enjoying himself — finally, he had a moment of solace and he let that memory creep in to ruin it.

Why had it taken him so long to find that solace? Over a month of being here — away from all of it, Boston, the hospital, Naveen, her. And still, he was battling it. Constantly — _every day_.

His body twisted with want, and anguish and frustration.

It — they — she had so much power over him still. Even 3200 miles away in a different timezone, a different continent. And that’s what scared him the most. It terrified him. 

Ethan took a hard swallow, trying to stop the emotion that was climbing up his throat making it harder to breathe.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A re-telling of Open Heart Book Two, with more depth, different points of views, angst, drama, and jealousy.
> 
> NOTE: This series involves a romance between Ethan x MC, and Bryce x MC. Both pairings are present in this fic and ebb and flow throughout the entire series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

PART THREE

 _Chapter Rating_ : T

 _Word Count_ : 5400+

 _Description_ : Ethan returns home from the Amazon thinking he is ready to face reality. Jordynne, Ethan, and Bryce are all present in this chapter.

 _Disclaimer_ : Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from **_Pixelberry’s_** **_Choices_**. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Jordynne’s background is my own creation, based loosely off of MC in-game’s personality and provided with more details.

 _Author’s Note:_ Well this took much longer than anticipated! Thank you to everyone for being patient, and reaching out about Residency! It means a lot to know people are still reading it, and are waiting for updates! I am nervous + excited for Chapter 10 to finally come out next Saturday! How are you feeling about it? 

As always any kudos, bookmarks and comments are very appreciated.

* * *

And just like that he was back on a plane.

Ethan had spent the remaining month of his project with the WHO in a daze. He threw himself into his work — even more than before. He didn’t give himself a moment to stop, to idle. If he did the thoughts would creep in like they had on that beach. Or like when he had foolishly opened up to that nosy Doctor in camp.

So he just kept going and going and going.

And now he sat on the plane home, staring blankly at the TV screen in the back of the chair in front of him. A book was in his hands — the front cover curled in underneath the back as he held onto it tightly. Probably too tightly. He watched the tiny animation of the plane slowly tick forward — representing them soaring through the sky. Tiny white letters flashed along the bottom of the screen.

_6 hours and 14 minutes remaining._

6 hours and 14 minutes until he would have to face his reality.

He let out a loud sigh — his head falling back onto the headrest.

“Not a good book?”

Ethan’s dark brows furrowed at the voice — annoyed at whoever was speaking so loudly. Adjusting himself in his seat, he moved his head forward again before he realized that the question was being directed to him.

The woman across from him had angled her body towards him, leaning out in the tiny hallway of the plane with a soft smile on her face as she waited for him to reply.

The furrow in his brow deepened. “What?” He barked back.

“Is your book not good? I was eyeing it in the airport store before we boarded.”

“Actually no. It’s not good. You saved yourself $5.” His words were short and clipped. Final. This stranger needed to learn some social grace and leave him alone.

“Oh. Right.” She seemed to have gotten the hint, and he watched from the corner of his eye as she turned back to sit in her seat properly. He looked at the small screen again.

_6 hours and 13 minutes remaining._

“I’m sorry... but why isn’t it good?” Her voice rang out again, but it sounded anything but apologetic.

Ethan let out a long breath through his nose, flashing the woman a look before replying, “It’s fiction.”

“So?”

“Fiction, fantasy — that’s what people want. But reality is what people need.”

“Oh. You’re one of those.” She turned away from him again, grabbing onto the magazine in her lap and starting to flick through the pages with feigned interest. 

His jaw set in a hard line, “One of those what’s?”

“A Mr. Serious-Type. You can’t read for pleasure, you only read for knowledge. You probably read textbooks for fun.” She rolled her eyes.

Ethan almost felt his look twitch into a smile. She had almost read him right, “I write textbooks for fun.”

She looked at him quizzically, “What are you a professor?”

“Doctor.”

“Oh wow.” Her eyebrows shot up, “And I guess a pretty good one too if you write textbooks?”

Images of the patients he had failed flashed in his mind. Dolores being wheeled into emergency surgery to never return. Choking his failure out to Naveen and begging him to stay in the hospital anyways. “Most of the time.”

“I’m just a photographer.”

Apparently this stranger was insistent on keeping up this absurd conversation. “That has its own value in the world. Don’t discredit what you do.”

She let out a chuckle, “I think doctor is higher up than photographer.”

His eyebrows furrowed, “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

The woman blinked at him in surprise, “Do you usually argue with strangers on airplanes?”

“Do you usually force conversations with strangers on airplanes?” He countered.

A smirk spread across her face as she settled into her seat a little more. “No. But you haven’t checked the flight tracker in over 3 minutes.”

“I—,” Ethan’s blue eyes flashed to the tiny screen again.

_6 hours and 10 minutes remaining._

He gave her a bewildered stare. “You did that on purpose?!”

“I was watching you watching that thing. It was driving me crazy.”

He set his jaw in a hard line, feeling annoyed. “I — “

She flashed him a wide grin, “You’re welcome Dr. Serious.”

Ethan sat in stunned silence for a moment. This woman’s antics ... they reminded him of _her_. Of Jordynne. Isn’t this exactly what she would do? Poke the bear. Distract him enough to get himself out of his own head. Bring him back down to earth.

“So are you counting down the minutes because you’re so excited to get home? Or because you’re dreading getting back?” She asked sincerely, a half smile on her face as she waited for his answer.

He pursed his lips for a moment as he thought. This whole trip has been about running away. Escaping to get a break and restart. But he had missed home. He had missed his work. He thought of Jenner living with his father for the past two months. All the great coffee he could have once he was back at home.

Ethan let out a conflicted sigh, “Is both a valid answer?”

“Completely.”

“Then both.”

That was two strangers now that he had confided in. _Who was he?_ He felt like he could barely recognize the man speaking right now.

But he realized he didn’t have anyone else to speak to about it. The two people he would open up to were the two people he couldn’t. He didn’t want to disappoint Naveen even more than he already had. And Jordynne... well, that was the whole point of this. To not talk to her. To not open up.

He was supposed to go back to how things were before. Restart, refresh.

Back to the cynic. The man of convictions. Dr. Serious. Dr. Terminator.

So why couldn’t he?

* * *

A content sigh left Ethan as he settled onto the familiar stool in Donahue’s.

Now _this_ was the old Ethan Ramsey. Sitting at the corner of the bar, drink in hand away from the crowd of people.

This is what he needed. To get back into his normal routine, to fall back into his own rhythm. A night at the tacky bar was exactly what he would be doing the night before his first day at work.

Reggie approached his corner of the bar, tossing a rag over his shoulder before leaning up against the counter casually. “So you’re back.”

Ethan nodded, taking another swig of his beer. 

“And you were...?” His question trailed off as he waited for him to jump in.

“In the Amazon.”

“For vacation?”

“For work.” He said simply, placing the pint glass down carefully.

“You’re a weird man,” Reggie said with furrowed brows. “You should check out the beer garden — while it’s still nice out.” He said simply before turning to go help a couple of people standing at the bar.

A half-smirk spread across his face. Short conversations like that was exactly why Ethan liked Reggie. They made remarks, he gave him his drinks and he let him be.

Just like how things used to be.

 _Good_ — it was already working. The reset was working.

Stretching off of his stool, Ethan grabbed a hold of his drink before weaving around the crowd of people and tables. He decided to take Reggie’s suggestion — the view of downtown Boston was nice out there too and maybe it would be a little less crowded.

As he went to step outside his feet suddenly planted to the ground unmoving.

He was frozen in the door frame leading to the beer garden — condensation dripping from his beer, pouring over his warm hand.

There she was.

He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t prepared himself for her to be here. It was one of her haunts now too.

Everything he had forced back in South America — all the memories and thoughts — all of that work evaporated. Like _that_ — they were gone.

He had forgotten the effect Jordynne had on him. Miles away in the rainforest had made him forget the real, visceral effect she had on him. His palms had turned warm and sweaty, his heartbeat was picking up and had started to climb up his throat.

How was it that she was the first person he noticed in the crowded venue?

She was dressed for the warm weather — her tan shoulders and collarbone revealed in a yellow tube top. Her blonde hair was pulled half up, framing her face that had gotten even more freckled the last couple of months. She was clinking her pint of beer with her friends, a wide smile stretching over her pink lips. But confusion replaced it as her eyebrows furrowed, then her eyed searched around the beer garden until they landed on his frozen figure.

Her expression softened — the furrow in her brows disappearing and her mouth opening in surprise.

Ethan’s body unconsciously carried him over to the table, his grip tightening on his glass as he got closer. He hesitated in front of her table moment, before

finally meeting her green eyes, “Rookie.” He said with a nod, waiting for her reaction.

She hesitated for a moment, licking her lips before speaking, “It’s good to have you back, Doctor Ramsey.”

“Yeah...,” Doctor Ramsey. Not Ramsey. Not Ethan. Professional, formal, distant. “Good to be back.” He gathered himself up, before casually flicking his eyes towards the rest of the table. He didn’t fail to notice Lahela and his proximity to her — his shoulder almost pressed up to hers. He had a hard to read expression on his face — which Ethan assumed could only mean that they had started things back up again. “Doctors. Enjoy your evening.”

He marched back into the main bar quickly — his heart pounding. He found his familiar stool and slid back into it — holding himself steady with the edge of it for just a moment.

Reggie eyed him, before turning his back to him. There was the sound of a glass clinking before he silently slid a filled tumbler towards him. “You look like you need something a little harder than your beer.”

Ethan gave him a warning glance, before pushing his beer to the side and taking a large gulp of the scotch.

“So it’s still her, hey?” The bartender asked, watching him as he put glasses into the dishwasher — steam swirling around his forearms.

His thick brows furrowed, and nose scrunched up, “What?”

“Blondie. I don’t know her name. I know she’s out in the beer gardens right now— that why you came running back in here?” Reggie’s eyebrows were raised high on his forehead.

Ethan set his jaw into a hardline. “I’m not sure I know who you’re talking about.” 

“Uh-huh, sure... Blonde, legs for days, works at that life and death factory of yours.” He put a glass down for a moment so he could fix Ramsey with a good state, “Actually, I think the last time I saw you in my bar all those months ago you were leaving with her.”

That was the last time Ethan was here. The celebration after her hearing. They had barely lasted 5 minutes in the bar before they had left together in that yellow cab.

“Touché.” He raised the scotch tumbler up in a mock salute before taking another gulp.

“Don’t try to pull one over Reggie. I see all.”

“She still in here a lot?” His finger ran over the rim of the glass as he waited for the bartender to answer.

“Not every day like the usual riff-raff from the hospital. But enough that I recognize her.”

“Have you...,” He hesitated for a moment. Should he really ask it? But his curiosity got the best of him, “Have you noticed her with anyone?”

“She doesn’t come here alone if that’s what you mean. And she’s also not dancing on tabletops and sneaking away with anyone either.”

“Right.” He wasn’t sure what to do with that information.

Ethan went on high alert as he noticed Jordynne slip inside from the beer garden — waiting at the corner of the bar to place an order.

Reggie noticed her just after him and he gave Ethan a knowing look before taking her order.

He had to keep forcing his blue eyes away from her — staring down at the amber liquid in his drink, the neon lights behind the bar, the never-ending commercials on the television.

But the sound of shattering glass caused his ears to perk up, and he turned to look at Jordynne immediately. She was standing in shock — her mouth opened in surprise.

He watched as the aftermath of a scene unfurled. He instantly recognized Thorne from the hospital — clutching his mangled hand to his chest, his jaw was set in a hardline. A young woman was next to him — her face was blank but he could see her grasping her bloody leg — pieces of glasses were sticking out of it.

Ethan pushed off of his stool, abandoning his drink and marching over to the trio quickly.

But before he could react Jordynne had rushed forward, grabbing the back of the Thorne’s jacket and pulling him back away from the young woman with a strength Ethan didn’t know she had, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She snarled — her face was filled with fury as her voice rang out.

“This bitch broke my hand! I’m a plastic surgeon! Do you have any idea how valuable my hands are? I’m pressing charges! And by the time my lawyers are through with her—“

Her white teeth bared at him as she went to speak again, stepping closer to him. But Ethan got there before she could do anything else.

“Garret. That’s enough.” He growled, putting his body in front of Jordynne, one hand behind him softly pushing on her torso — stopping her from coming forward. The other hand was raised up at Throne, ready to push him back a lot harder if he needed to. “You still got one good hand, don’t you? Put it to use and call yourself a cab.” He glared down at the man, his nostrils flared.

He felt Jordynne’s body disappear from against his hand and heard footsteps retreating. He didn’t break his eye contact with Thorne — trusting Jordynne could handle helping the other woman.

“Get out of my way Ramsey, that bitch owes me.” He spat, trying to look over his shoulder to see where the woman had went.

“Did you hear me? I said call yourself a cab.” He repeated, enunciating each word.

Thorne pushed his face closer to Ethan’s, flaring his nostrils at him, “You might have people in your pocket in the hospital, Ramsey. But out here, this is the real world. And you don’t get to dictate me.”

“Is that so?” Before he could react, Ethan angrily grabbed onto his collar and pulling him for Reggie to see. “Shall I?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Get that idiot out of here!” He yelled as he crossed over the bar with a broom in hand.

“Gladly,” Ethan snarled, dragging Garrett towards the exit.

“That blonde chick — she your pet or something, Ramsey? You got real heated as soon as she was involved.” His voice was a bit strained as Ethan dragged him out of the bar. Luckily there was a yellow cab idling nearby and he was able to wave it over.

“Shut up and get in the cab.” He said through gritted teeth, doing his best to ignore the comment.

“‘Cause I swear I recognize her from somewhere...” He hinted, catching onto the door of the cab with his good hand to stop Ethan from pushing him into it.

“You know what I seem to remember? How you got your sexual harassment case at the hospital buried. I wonder what would happen if you were charged with it outside of the hospital too? Might not be very good for practicing.” Ethan pulled out his phone, his thumb hovering over the emergency services button.

“Fine.” He spat, “But I won’t forget this.”

“Neither will I.” Ethan pushed the man into the car with a hit more force than was necessary. A growl escaped him as he watched Thorne’s smirk through the window as the cab pulled away.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. That was the exact opposite of what he had expected for his first night back home. With heavy steps, he walked back into the bar — feeling a couple of stares on him as soon as he entered.

Jordynne’s green eyes found his as he walked back to his stool. They were crinkled with worry for a moment before the look suddenly vanished at the sounds of her friends coming in from the beer garden.

“Whoa, Jordynne what went down in here?” Elijah asked, rolling around the broken glass by the bar carefully.

“You know Dr. Thorne, the plastic surgeon? He wouldn’t leave this girl alone. It got intense.” She crosses her arms over her torso, a look of disgust on her face as she looked over the aftermath of the scene.

Reggie tutted and shook his head as he swept up the broken glass as she told them what happened.

“I always knew that guy was gross.” Jackie matched Jordynne’s expression.

“Alright, people, last call. You ain’t gotta go home, but you can’t stay here.” Reggie stopped sweeping for a moment, waving his hand to get everyone’s attention.

“Already? I’m not even close to ready for tomorrow to start.” Ethan watch from his stool as Jordynne wrapped her arms around her torso — suddenly looking nervous.

“Like Reggie said, last call doesn’t have to mean ‘go home’. We can stay out and explore.” Bryce grabbed onto her elbow easily, flashing her his signature smile.

Ethan did his best to keep his face neutral.

“Screw that, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.”

“You guys are nuts. I’m twenty minutes away from falling asleep on my wheels!” 

“Good thing we can get you home in fifteen then.” Sienna smiled down at Elijah as she grabbed onto the handles of his chair. “You coming, Jordynne?”

Jordynne’s eyes darted over the other patrons leaving the bar, before looking back to Ethan on his usual stool on the corner of the bar. 

“What? Last call doesn’t apply to you?” She raised a dark brow at him.

“Reggie and I have an arrangement.” He held onto his glass a bit tighter.

“An arrangement? Is that what you call friendship?” A smile almost spread across her pink lips.

“I guess you forgot. I don’t have friends. But… I wouldn’t mind you joining me if you were so inclined.” He offered, doing his best to sound casual.

This could be a good way to start their professional relationship. Her fellowship would be starting tomorrow since it marked his return to work. They needed to start things right. Like they should have all those months ago.

“You coming Jordy?” Bryce asked again. Ethan could swear he saw his smile flickering a bit. The usually confident surgeon looked unsure.

“Umm…,” She hesitated for a moment, tucking a lock of her golden blonde hair behind her ear, “You guys go on ahead. I just want to quickly check in about tomorrow with Dr. Ramsey.”

“Okay. Just don’t stay out too late… Aurora’s dropping off the rest of her stuff before work tomorrow, remember?” Sienna jerked her head towards a slightly frowning Bryce. It definitely sounded like a warning.

She blinked at her friend for a moment, before nodding, “I know. It's just about the fellowship.”

Ethan turned back around in his stool as she said goodbye to her friends.

He was suddenly reminded of the night after her first day as an intern as he heard the scrape of the stool next to him. She had sidled up to him so easily then, but today she seemed more hesitant.

He looked over his shoulder at her, keeping his face composed. “Rook— er, Jordynne. Sorry,” He grimaced slightly, “Force of habit.”

She shrugged before she settled into the spot next to him. Usually, he was acutely aware of how little space she left between them when she was nearby. Now he was aware of how much more space she left. He watched her swallow before nodding at his leather jacket, “We’ve got ourselves a brand new Ethan Ramsey.”

He tugged at the hem of it self-consciously, “This jacket’s been through a lot with me.” After wearing it almost every day the last month of his trip it had started to mold to him.

“It suits you,” A half-smirk spread across her pink lips.

“Duly noted.” He put his tumbler glass down carefully, before scratching at his red-brown facial hair, “And the beard?”

Her green eyes flickered down to his new beard. He swore she lingered on his lips for a moment, but she looked back up with pursed lips, “It looks good on you.”

Ethan had to force his lips from upturning, instead, he continued to rub his jawline. “I’ve gotten used to it.”

Looking around his shoulders, he noted that the other patrons had left. It was only him, her and Reggie now — who was giving Ethan a pointed look. “Why don’t we move outside? It’ll be winter before we know it. Might as well enjoy the weather while we can. You want something to drink?”

She nodded in agreement, pushing herself up out of her stool, “Whatever you’re having.”

Reaching across the bar, Ethan snagged one of the bottles of good scotch still sitting in the bar well. “Hey, Reggie, we’re borrowing this.” The bartender handed him two clean glasses, before waving them off.

The pair headed back out to the beer garden — that was much more peaceful now that the crowd of people had left. He headed to the center fire pit, falling into the padded outdoor couch next to it. Jordynne slotted in beside him.

They sat in silence for a moment, looking up at the glowing lights strung up above them. The sun was just starting to set — turning the sky and pinky-orange.

“I can see why you like it here,” She finally spoke up. She sounded a little breathless.

“Because nobody’s annoying me?” He leaned back in his seat with a smirk.

“More or less. It’s peaceful.” She stared into the flames of the small fire pit, going quiet again.

Ethan wasn’t sure how to fill the quiet. It wasn’t a comfortable silence. He felt awkward — he didn’t really know how to do this anymore with her. Did he?

“So,” She broke the silence for him, “This Dr. Thorne guy. Should I be worried about him?” Her eyes moved from the fire to her drink.

“He has some influence.” He admitted, “Just stay out of his way for a couple weeks, and he’ll entirely forget who you are.”

“But not who you are. Should you be worried?” Her eyebrows were knitted together, concern on her face.

That was so Jordynne. Of course, she was worried about him, not herself.

“I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am to give a damn what someone like him thinks.” He shook his head, letting out a huff, “Don’t think twice about that asshole. What you did back there, helping that girl? You did the right thing. That’s all that matters.”

She shook her head back at him, but her eyes remained low, “We both know that’s not always true.”

“Hmm,” He felt heart pang, his stomach filling with guilt, “Well it should be. You’re too young to be a cynic like me.”

“I’m not being cynical. I just learned my lesson. You saw what happened last year. I almost lost my license for breaking the rules to help Mrs. Martinez. And I would do it again. Just like I would step in to help someone being harassed again. But people got hurt because of me — Mrs. Martinez’s family suffered. That’s not right.” She was chewing her lip as she spoke, visibly bothered.

“The lesson there is that if you put your patients first, you will always be vindicated in the end. That’s the lesson.” His blue eyes studied her, his thick brows meeting in the middle. “What you did just now was brave. You’ve always been brave in the face of disaster and death, of course... But it’s different to do it to a superior. To stand up to them for what’s right.”

A small smile spread across her face. It looked half-hearted, but it was still a smile. “It’s not as brave as venturing into the depths of the Amazon to fight an epidemic, that’s for sure.”

His heart fell. He stared into his drink for a moment before speaking, “That wasn’t bravery.”

His mouth went dry as he thought of what to say. He could hear the music from inside the bar trailing outside softly. Country music — he frowned.

Jordynne broke the silence before he could. “Ethan, why did you leave?”

He had avoided the question when she had asked before — when she had looked up at him with those big Bambi eyes in the parkade as he went to leave. Pleading with for a bit of honesty.

“I —,” His voice broke slightly, “I needed space.” He finally admitted, “I needed to reset before...”

“Before we worked together again?” She finished his sentence for him.

He nodded, “Exactly. So consider us reset. I won’t cross boundaries with you again. Your professional development is too important.”

He had said it once again. And he would stick to it. He had to.

“I see.” Her face suddenly became impossible to read. They had had this conversation so many times before — it was so well-rehearsed in his head by now. His heart still broke with guilt and grief remembering the looks she had given every time he told her this. But this time it was different.

Before he could even react, Jordynne had pushed her lips onto his. Ethan immediately tensed, his shoulders coming up to his ears. It took all of him to not give in. To not deepen it, to wrap his arms around her and pull her into him. Her lips were softer then he remembered.

He was cruel and didn’t pull away. His own selfishness winning out over logic. Just this one last time. To savor it. To remember what she tasted like.

When she pulled away, he watched as pain and wanting and confusion and hurt washed over her. Her green eyes staring deeply into his own blue ones, studying them.

“Dammit, Jordynne...”, Ethan finally breathed out, furrowing his eyebrows and scrunching up his forehead.

Her voice was barely a whisper. Her face still close enough to him that he could feel her breath, “If you don’t want to kiss me again, then just tell me...” He could smell the scotch on her breath, her perfume swirling around her.

But he interrupted her, “It has nothing to do with ‘want’. I can’t. And if I give a damn about you, I won’t.” He shook his head, biting down on the inside of his cheek hard for a moment. He took a hard swallow, “How am I supposed to push you to be everything you can be if I...”

He couldn’t finish that sentence.

“If you what?”

Ethan bit down on his lip this time, hard. Forcing himself to keep his emotions at bay. Forcing down that lump that was crawling up his throat. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Finally, he managed to — before downing his tumbler of scotch in one giant gulp.

“ _Okay_.” Her voice was so quiet. He had never heard of so quiet, so defeated. “I get it.” She got up off of her seat, awkwardly wrapping her arms around her torso.

She stood in front of him, avoiding his stare again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Ramsey.” She barely got the words out before marching back towards the bar.

He tightened his jaw as he watched her go. Pushing down every thought and wish and hope. That he should go after her. He could drive her home. That maybe she’d come back.

But that couldn’t be.

Fantasy is what people want. But reality is what they need.

This was Ethan Ramsey’s new reality.

“Good night, Dr. Holland.” He croaked out as she slipped inside and away from him.

* * *

Jordynne’s feet were killing her. She had marched out of that bar so fast, her feet slapping the ground as she raced away — hiding her red face from people passing by.

She took the steps down to the subway two at a time — so desperate to just be home under her covers already. She would have started running if she hadn’t have dressed up for the evening.

Finding a quiet corner of the subway, she slumped down into a seat and buried her face into her hands.

She had thought...

 _Well —_ she wasn’t sure what she thought would happen. Was she really surprised Ethan rejected her? How many times had they had that conversation before?

She guessed she thought that if she gave it one last chance she would finally have her answer.

And now she did.

She felt tears well up in her eyes — threatening to rush over onto her cheeks. But she squeezed her eyes shut so hard it hurt.

Jordynne was not going to let herself cry over this. Over him.

She wanted an answer and she got it.

She was better than crying on the subway. Better than pining over someone she would clearly never have. She was an intelligent woman. She was the junior fellow of the Diagnostics team. Of his diagnostics team.

So she would ignore it. They both will. They’ll pretend whatever it is between them doesn’t exist. That will just be her new reality.

Jordynne’s thoughts were interrupted as a shadow passed over her — a figure grabbing onto the railing above her and looking down. She craned her neck to catch a glimpse at the person.

Lahela.

He always had a way of showing up at just the right time. His long hair was hanging over his face as he looked down at her.

“Bryce, what are you doing? I thought you went out to explore.” She asked, confusion sweeping across her face.

“Ah,” He shrugged a little with a half-smile, “I walked along the river for a bit but figured I should be at least a little well-rested before becoming an all-mighty resident.”

She let out a soft chuckle, “Who knew this could make you have an even bigger ego?”

He joined her laughing — the sound melting the icy cold that had started to creep up in her moments before. She moved to the side as he sat down next to her in the red plastic seats of the subway.

He leaned back into the chair, looking as casual as one could on public transportation, “How was Ramsey? Everything all set for tomorrow?”

“Yup,” Her mouth got dry at his mention, “Fellowship officially starts tomorrow.” 

“Did he...?” But his voice trailed off — he sounded uncertain.

She raised an eyebrow at him, prompting him to continue— unable to guess what it was he was wondering.

“Did he — did you talk about you two?” His brown puppy dog eyes were crinkled with worry. 

Jordynne let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head, “There is no us two.”

“I’m not — I’m not asking this because of you and me. About our deal.” He met her eyes, looking at her intently, “I’m asking — because you’re my friend. And I care about you.”

“I know.” She nodded, believing him. “He is the head of the diagnostics team. And I am the junior fellow.” Another heavy breath escaped her, “And that’s where it will end.”

“Jordy...” His voice was soft and sad as he watched her, but she didn’t give him anything more to go on. He chewed his lip for a moment before speaking again, “So what happens now?”

“I think...,” Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought of what she wanted. Of what to do next. “I think I just want to be a doctor. Just put my head down and do what I came here to do.”

Bryce gave her a smile, nodding in agreement. “Just change one thing about that plan.”

She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

“You’re not just a doctor. You’re a damn good doctor. And no history with your boss, or devilishly distracting surgeon,” He flashed her a wink, “Will get in the way of that, ok?”

“Thanks, Bryce.” The vote of confidence boosted her mood a bit.

“You just do you, Jordy. Everything else will fall into place,” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his warm side. She stiffened for a moment — worried about the gesture. But he didn’t move any closer, and his face didn’t move to meet hers closely. She settled into him a little bit, thankful to have a friend with her.

And the pair continued to sit like that as the subway brought them home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A re-telling of Open Heart Book Two, with more depth, different points of views, angst, drama, and jealousy.
> 
> NOTE: This series involves a romance between Ethan x MC, and Bryce x MC. Both pairings are present in this fic and ebb and flow throughout the entire series.

_Chapter Rating_ : T

 _Word Count_ : 3940+

 _Description_ : Everybody’s first day back at Edenbrook. Is this second year everything they will need it to be?

 _Author’s Note:_ Ha. Soooo, its been a while. A long while. Many factors went into delaying updating this fic. First of all -- the pandemic. I am an essential worker. I am tired, and stressed. Yes, still. I am _tired_. I wake up, drive, work, drive, home, eat, sleep. That’s it. My freetime, creativity. mental health, etc. has been at an all time low. Second of all -- life. Soooo much has happened for my little family. My partner and I bought our first home and rescued our absolutely gorgeous puppy from a rescue shelter. It can be a bit hard to find time to write between putting your entire life into boxes, not having any furniture for 3 months and chasing after a puppy. Third -- I honestly felt like I lost my touch with my characters after reading Open Heart 2. The hiatus was understandable but long. There were chapters that were amazing, and heartbreaking and made me feel like I was soooo excited to write them. And then... by the end of Book 2... I felt lost? My favorite characters voices seem muffled. And I wasn’t sure how I was going to keep going. Do I ignore scenes/rewrite them? Would that compromise the premise of my fic? Being a fic that is in addition to the original PB story? I’m still a little lost if I am completely honest. Fourth -- general posting anxiety. Which I try so hard to avoid, and not think of. But comparison games, lack of notes and activity can get to you when you open yourself creatively online. 

But messages of encouragement and inquiries into the next update helped! And I thank everyone who checked in on the fic and on me to see what was going on ♡♡♡ Honestly, I felt like I had no time to write, and even if I did I wasn’t motivated or inspired enough to do it. Tonight, I felt good. The news of OH3 was a bit of a kick starter for me I won’t lie. But I want to get back into these character’s heads -- I want to figure out the god damn mess that Jordynne has made for herself with Ethan and Bryce!!

* * *

Bryce stood near the entrance to Edenbrook — shuffling from one foot to another. Both hands were wrapped around paper coffee cups — one of which he took a careful sip of. 

So he had stopped to get her a latte from her favorite café. He knew she would probably be in a huge rush to get to work early and wouldn’t stop to get one. He wanted her day to start off right. At least he hadn’t show up to the apartment. Well, the thought had crossed his mind but he had quickly pushed it away. This was about being her friend. He just wanted Jordynne to have a good first day. His dark eyes kept flicking towards the subway stairs, waiting patiently for that familiar blonde head to come bobbing up. Placing one of the cups on top of the other, he balanced them carefully as he dug into his jeans pocket for his phone. Maybe she had texted — 

“Oh Bryce — hey!” His ears perked up at the voice, and was met with a warm smile. The smile that occupied his waking dreams. He liked being the reason for that smile. 

“Hey Jordy!” God, why did he sound so breathless.

“Happy first day as a resident!” He shoved his phone back into his pocket, before grabbing onto her latte and extending it out, “I thought you should be extra caffeinated for your day, so I got you...” But his voice trailed off as he realized she was already clutching a travel mug to her chest. “Oh you already got one.”

“Uh, yeah,” Her smile turned sheepish, “I had the exact same thought process as you actually.” 

“Heh—,” he chuckled, “I guess I know you pretty well.” 

Her green eyes flashed with a look he couldn’t quite read, “Guess you do.” “Well, do you want it still...?” He held out the lukewarm latte again, unsure what to do with it. 

“Hey, I’m still Jordynne Holland. When have I ever denied extra caffeine?” Bryce’s white teeth bit his lip as they stretched into a smile. He handed her the cup — their fingers grazing slightly. 

“Thanks.” 

They fell into step behind the other roommates, trailing into the hospital. As they walked together, Bryce suddenly struggled to find what to say. He had never been one to stay quiet — usually he was the outspoken one. But now he just watched her grasp onto her two coffee cups tightly, her eyes low as she walked into Edenbrook. 

Once they made there way into the staff locker room, they separated to their own lockers. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she carefully sat her two drinks down, before grabbing her white coat. She slipped it on effortlessly, before wrapping her stethoscope around her neck. Flipping her blonde ponytail out, she turned to speak with Sienna — her voice to low for him to hear. Jordynne looked amazing — her lean legs and hips wrapped in a deep green skirt that showed off just enough that it was both sexy and tasteful. Her high necked pale blouse brought out her olive skin. She could be the woman on the front of the pamphlets they had out to pre-med undergrads. She already was the doctor she was aspiring to be — and he knew she would fit in well with the Diagnostics team. He thought of Ramsey — his pressed trousers, and leather dress shoes. His watch that probably cost more then Bryce’s car. Grinding his molars, he looked down at the wrinkles trousers and Nikes in his hands. Peeling his shirt off he tossed it gently into his locker, letting out a sigh. But he quickly masked it as Jordynne went to leave the locker room. “Hey,” He caught her attention before she went to leave, “You’re gonna kill it, Holland.” 

“Thanks Lahela,” She gave him that smile again. The one that made everything flutter. 

“I’ll save you a seat at lunch?”

“Oh—“ Her eyebrows furrowed slightly in the middle, “I’m not sure how my day will look with the team... I’ll play it by ear?” She offered, looking a little guilty. 

“Yeah— yeah of course...” His voice sounded a little strained. “We’ll catch you later.” 

She nodded at him, pushing her hands into her pockets, “Okay, yeah. See you guys in the atrium,” She called out over her shoulder, her blonde ponytail swinging as she walked away. 

Bryce’s brown eyes flickered over to the rest of her roommates, who were all watching with slightly worried looks. It was starting to settle in. _Maybe this second year, this second chance — was the beginning of everything changing_. 

* * *

He had originally come up here to get accustomed to his new surroundings. Get a lay of the land. The board had spared no expense with the new wing expansion — and the Diagnostic team’s new office was no joke. 

Ethan was standing across the hall from the room — staring into the room through the glass walls. Everything inside was sleek, shiny and new. His hands were bunched up fists in the pockets of his trousers, and the tie around his neck felt a little tight. Had he forgotten what all of this was like while he was away? 

Thirty minutes he had stood there. 

_Thirty_. 

Standing there and imagining where he would sit at the table — discussing with the team, leading them to the right diagnosis. Researching at the desk, pouring over the hundred books that was supplied for them in there. 

But the picture in his head was fuzzy. Even in his imagination Ethan felt like something didn’t feel right. What was it? 

The team? No. Mirani and Hirata always did excellent work. He could rely on them.

Was it that Naveen was missing? So many of his biggest successes with the team was with Naveen. And he definitely felt his absence this past year. He had also never really adjusted to the idea of being the team lead for the department. It was thrust upon him, not once but twice. And both times he had been unprepared. Being a leader wasn’t exactly what he had always hoped for in his career.

Ethan’s thick brows were furrowed as he thought, the gears in his mind whirling. Why had he been staring at the office for thirty minutes? What was stopping him from going inside and just doing his damn work? That’s what he came back for — so what was his trepidation? 

The light flickering on in the diagnostic teams office brought him back to reality. The room was illuminated, the white light shining through the glass walls and spilling into the hall. 

There she was. 

Jordynne stood at the entrance of the office, her back facing him as she took it all in. She hadn’t notice him from across the large hallway. Ethan stepped back into the shadows — hoping she wouldn’t see him capturing the moment. A silent laugh escaped him as he watched her set not one, but two coffee cups down onto the table. His lips remained upturned as he watched her wander deeper into the room, running her fingers over the smooth surface of the whiteboard. She had a soft smile on her face as she looked around her. 

“Good morning Dr. Ramsey!”

Ethan almost hissed at the sound of the cheerful voice next time. Looking over he saw Dr. Baz Mirani standing next to him with a wide smile spread across his face. 

“Morning,” He grumbled, looking back to his view of the diagnostics office where Jordynne had started to settle in. 

“That’s Dr. Holland right?” Baz followed his line of sight, and watching her for a moment. “Are you going to head in?” The young doctor questioned, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. 

He cleared his throat, before shaking his head, “You go ahead.”

The young man didn’t think anything of it, and marched over into the office. Ethan could hear their muffled voices through the glass as they introduced each other.

He noticed the next person that came up to him — Dr. Hirata. She gave him a nod, before pausing for a moment and staring at him in the dark side of the corridor. He could tell she was calculating, attempting to deduce what was keeping him out of their new office. But her face remained neutral and she turned on her heel and headed into the room. 

Maybe there were too many variables for her to figure it out too. 

His blue eyes watched as the three colleagues got familiar with each other, shaking hands and pleasantries. Maybe this would be a perfect time to go in. He had missed the awkward introductions — the worst part was over. He just had to go into the room. 

Running his hands over his white coat, Ethan crossed the hall and stepped into the brand new office. 

“Introductions done?” He asked, his thick brows raised. He glanced over them quickly, not long enough to make any eye contact. “Great. We’ve got work to do.” The glass door behind him gently hissed as it closed — leaving them all in the office together. 

_Ok. First step done._

“We have an incoming patient from Manhattan Presbyterian.” The trio slid apart to make room for him as he marched to the board, pining up an abdominal CT scan. 

Jordynne, June and Baz grabbed a spot at the circular wooden table in the middle of the room. 

“Can you describe the patient?”

“Male, aged 45. Asian American.” He watched as Jordynne took out her trusty little black notebook, and started jotting down notes. 

“Symptoms?” 

“He presented with a fever, vomiting and diarrhea, and was treated for the flu. He returned several days later with enlarged lymph nodes, abdominal pain, and a rash on his shoulder.” Grabbing onto a black marker, he started to write the known symptoms down on the white board. With his back turned to the group for a moment, he let the corners of his lips turn up for a split second. This felt good. “What did his former doctors think it was?” 

“Hodgkin lymphoma.” He made sure he kept his face neutral -- to not give any answers away. 

June scoffed, “Amateurs. And his blood?” 

He almost laughed.

As the conversation started to amp up, Ethan slipped back into his role on the diagnostics team easier then he had imagined. Bouncing off of each other during the differential — he had missed this. 

Then he realized Jordynne hadn’t said anything. She was sitting in her chair, looking slightly awestruck. But she was still writing notes diligently and observing them going back and forth. 

“Six months ago, however, he was admitted for flu-like symptoms and a rash on his arm.” Ethan continued, drawing his eyes away from her and focusing back on the conversation. 

“That could be the key. Did they biopsy it?” Baz asked, eyebrows raised and face hopeful. 

He pursed his lips, “They didn’t.”

“Any history of dermatitis?” 

“Was he on any medication prior to being admitted?” 

June and Baz asked one after the other, going through their mental lists. “No and no.” 

“It could be cutaneous Kikuchi disease.” Hirata suggested. But she didn't do suggestions -- she diagnosed. 

_Interesting_. 

June had gotten there first. But she was always like that. It was a race for her. 

“The symptoms do add up.” Dr. Mirani nodded, giving his colleague a look of approval. 

“I agree.” 

There was a knock on the door, and they looked up to see Danny on the other side of the glass. Ethan waved him in where he announced the patient's arrival at Edenbrook.

“Excellent. Dr. Holland,” He spoke directly to her for the first time that morning —holding his breath as he waited for her reaction. But her face remained neutral, looking up at him through her lashes as she waited for him to finish, “Run a biopsy on the patient’s rash. If we’re correct, we’ll begin the patient on a treatment of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories and prednisone.” 

He noticed her swallow for a moment, listening to her instructions. “And if we’re wrong?” 

“We’ll re-evaluate.” 

“But we won’t need to,” June said confidently, leaning across the table at Jordynne with a wink. 

“Team dismissed. I’ll page you if I need you again today.” He turned around, going back to the white board to add their final notes and treatment plan. 

Out of his peripheral vision he saw Baz put a gentle hand on Jordynne’s shoulder. He lowered his head to speak in her softly, “I made the same face my first few days on the team. You’ll get used to it.” 

Ethan crossed over to his desk to find the patient's file. Rummaging in his pockets, he found his glasses and slid them on. Without looking up from his file, he spoke to Jordynne who had remained in the room, “After you’re done with our patient, you can see Ines and Zaid for further assignments. You’ll be balancing your work here with your usual resident duties. Now that you’re in your second year, that will include rotations at the free clinic.” 

“Yes, Dr. Ramsey.” Her voice was so professional, so trained. He had never heard her sound like that. It was like she had practiced.

He heard the sound of her crossing the room, and stepping towards the door. But then she hesitated. “Will we always diagnose a patient without seeing them?” She asked. 

“No, but we’re often asked for help by other hospitals all over the country, so it’s a good habit to keep our blind diagnosis skills sharp.” He finally looked up from his file, using his finger as a bookmark in it. But when he looked over to, his stomach flipped slightly as he found that her green eyes already staring at him.

He could see her hesitation, and maybe some nerves. She had just been thrown into the deep end -- and it seemed she was struggling to stay afloat. 

“Is everything alright, Jordynne?” 

He couldn’t help himself. Plus, it was his responsibility to ensure her success on the team now. It was apart of his job to check in on her.

“Actually...,” She made sure the glass door closed, before stepping further into the room, “Could we talk?” Her fingers were knotted together in front of her -- she looked nervous, and vulnerable. 

Ethan studied her for a moment, chewing the inside of his cheek, “About the job? Or about us?” 

Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, like she was in pain. But it was for just for the smallest moment -- he had barely even caught it. “The job.”

Placing the file down, he pulled a chair from the center table out for her where they sat down together. He adjusted his glasses on the crook of his nose, before settling into his chair. “I’m all yours,” He said, folding his hands carefully on top of each other on the table as he waited for her to speak up.

“Dr. Ramsey...," A flicker of doubt crossed her face, before she opened her mouth, "How are you sure you made the right diagnosis?"

Grabbing the file in front of him, he pulled out the patient's previous charts and placed them in front of them. “In medicine, the most logical answer is usually the correct one. In this case, the most obvious answer was Hodgkin lymphoma.”

“But the other hospital had already eliminated Hodgkin lymphoma.” She finished for him. 

“Correct. Which allowed us to take it off the board and considered the next most logical answer.” He pointed back over his shoulder to the symptoms he had written on the board in his chicken scratch, “The patient had a persistent rash. Paired with the symptoms present, the most logical answer is Kikuchi disease." He met her eye easily across the table, before matching her vulnerability, "But as to how I’m so sure, I’m not. Which is why you’ll be running a biopsy. We need to trust in our diagnostic instincts, but the second we let arrogance overrule the results, we fail as doctors.” 

“So I should use logic... and be humble?” Her eyebrows were tugging in the middle as she processed his advice. 

“And read journals. I want you to turn yourself into a walking disease encyclopedia. You can’t diagnose the patient if you don’t study up. If the patients we saw had more common diseases... they’d never have been referred to us in the first place.” 

“Got it.” She nodded -- eyeing the bookshelves behind them that were filled with textbooks.

“So what did you think of the team?" He asked curiously, "It was the three of us under Naveen last year, until he put himself out to pasture.” 

A soft chuckle escaped her, “You mean became Chief of Medicine?”

He smiled at the sound, “Precisely.” 

“Well, we just met but I think I liked Baz.” Jordynne offered, pursing her lips. 

“He’s hard to dislike. Walking proof that genetics aren’t everything.” 

“When did he join the team?”

“A couple years ago, when Zaid began his residency. He sought a position here to be closer to his brother.” 

Her eyebrows raised in surprise, “Can’t believe Zaid would be okay with that.” 

“Supposedly, the old chief cleared it with Zaid before he approved the transfer. But I heard a rumor that it was Baz, dressed up pretending to be Zaid.” 

Her mouth fell open, “He wouldn’t!” 

He shrugged, a cheeky smile spreading across his face. “I don’t pay any mind to rumors.” 

She smirked back at him -- and he could feel the nervousness and ice melting between them. _They could do this_. 

Two colleagues conversing normally. This was fine. 

“So if I want to get on Baz’s good side, how do I go about that?” She leaned in a bit more towards him, putting her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her fist. 

Ethan thought for a moment before replying, “Baz is earnest to a fault. He respects authenticity more than anything so... as much as I despise saying anything so incredibly banal, my advice would be... “be yourself”,” He grimaced as the words left his mouth. 

“ _Oof_ —“ She chuckled, “That must have hurt to say aloud.” She knew him well. “That’s why you’ll never hear it again.” 

She let out another laugh, but this one sounded more sad. Then a sigh escaped her, and she started picking at her lip, “I thought I was so ready for this year. How do I feel like a clueless intern all over again?”

“Because you are clueless, relatively speaking.” 

She frowned, “Gee, thanks.”

His stomach dropped -- that's not what he meant. “It wasn't an insult," He scrambled to get out, "You get to spend the second year of your residency in a small room with over three decades of collective medical knowledge and experience. Learn from it. Be inspired to become a better doctor from it.” He looked up, and found her already looking at him again. His thick brows furrowed, “What is it?” 

“Oh uh... your glasses...," Her words trailed off as she looked at him, "They make you look smart.” She sounded a little breathless. 

He did his best to ignore how that made him feel, the blush that might have been creeping up on his cheeks. So he hid between cheek and tongue. “You’ve caught me. The illusion behind my status. Without these I’m a simpering moron.”

The pair was quiet for a beat, before bursting out laughing. As they laughed, she casually tapped his hand with hers. “Thank you,” She spoke again, but this time her voice was quiet. 

Her fingers had lingered on his hand, so she gave it a squeeze. They were cold on his warm skin.

Ethan's jaw set as he felt those familiar sparks. Jordynne...” His voice was a warning. It was only the first hour of their first day. 

“I know.” She said carefully, but she looked down at the table. 

“We’ll be okay. We’ll make it work.” 

He wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince. 

“Yeah,” She breathed out. 

He moved his thumb gently across her fingers, daring to give her just that smallest bit of comfort. But the sound of the glass door whooshing open caused him to rip his hand away. 

“Whoops! Forgot my pager! That could have been very bad!” Baz strolled back into the office -- oblivious to what he had just walked in on. 

Both Ethan and Jordynne bolted out of their chairs, stepping away from each other. 

“Hmm. Yes. It’s right over there on the table.” Ethan pointed before shoving his guilty hands into his lab coat.

“I’ll get those tests run.” Jordynne had moved to the door, her arms crossed over her chest and face flushing red with embarrassment. 

“Excellent. Thank you.” He said with a nod, watching as she turned on her heel and marched down the hallway. 

_Why was nothing ever easy with Jordynne Holland?_

_Would this year be any different?_

* * *

"Cholecystitis." Jordynne said as she finished adding it to the whiteboard in the diagnostics room. Her perfect block letters standing out drastically against Dr. Ramsey's messy scratch. "Inflamed gull bladder which explains the abdominal pain after eating. Which is entirely separate from Kikuchi disease."

She turned around, capping the pen with a confident smile. Esme was standing near the door, watching the scene unfurl with crossed arms. 

"I have to say, I'm not sure I would have spotted that." June spoke first -- looking mildly impressed. 

"Nice catch, Jordynne." Baz gave her a big smile. 

"Indeed. Especially since we had been diagnosing based on reports, not our own face-to-face interviews. Dr. Holland's specialty has always been listening to her patients. Well done." He gave her a nod, a smile threatening to show on his face. 

"It wasn't just me. Dr. Ortega assisted." She nodded to her intern at the door. She knew that drove Ethan crazy -- passing along credit to her colleagues. But Esme deserved it. 

"Hey," Esme nodded her head at the trio from the corner of the room, attempting a smile.

"So this is your intern?" Ramsey stepped forward, eyebrows raised. "Well, Dr. Ortega...," He sized her up for a moment, before moving his steely eyes over to Jordynne. "Dr. Holland's one of our best. Consider yourself lucky."

Jordynne felt warmth spread in her chest -- feeling proud of herself. High praise from Dr. Ramsey -- everything between them aside. 

"I do, Dr. Ramsey." 

"Keep me updated on his treatment." Ethan asked politely, before filing out of the room with the rest of the diagnostics team. 

"So I guess you're pretty good at this." Her intern looked at her with a little smirk. "You saw for yourself, I learned from the best. Edenbrook has some of the best doctors in America, and you'll learn from them all. And not just the attendings, but your fellow interns too. I wouldn't have made it through without my friends."

"You telling me to what... be more social?" Esme looked up at her -- her face filled with doubt.

She shrugged, the corners of her lips tugging up, "It can't hurt."

"It definitely can."

"Donahue's from the other night? That's where everyone goes. But first, let's get you back to your patients." Jordynne started to shuffle out of the office, but Esme's voice stopped her. 

"Right... Hey, Dr. Holland? Thanks for not bailing on me. Gotta say, that's a new one." She sounded genuine.

"Sure thing, Ortega. I got your back." 

_This year could be different._


End file.
